Braving the Gauntlet
by The Chthonic Professor
Summary: Team GNLT (Gauntlet) passes Beacon's initiation alongside Teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL. These four boys will change the dynamics between the three teams, but one of their members has something to hide. Gray Wolfgang looks like your average healer on the surface, but there's something far more sinister to his unique power.
1. The First Gauntlet

_**Braving the Gauntlet**_

 _ **The Chthonic Professor**_

 _ **Summary:**_ _Team GNLT (Gauntlet) passes Beacon's initiation alongside Teams RWBY, JNPR and CRDL. These four boys will change the dynamics between the three teams, but one of their members has something to hide. Gray Wolfgang looks like your average healer on the surface, but there's something far more sinister to his unique power._

-.-

 _ **Chapter One - The First Gauntlet**_

 _-.-_

"Wow…." A young man's awed voice whispered quietly, heard only by the person standing directly to his right, "Check it _out_ dude." He said while nudging the boy beside him with his elbow.

The second boy rolled his light blue eyes, shoved his hands in pockets, and shrugged his shoulders. "It's just a school, Gray. You're such a nerd sometimes." Despite his harsh-sounding words, the boy had a slight half-smirk, half-smile on his face as he took in his best friend's bright expression.

Gray Wolfgang and Lapis Lazuli had known each other since they were boys, having met each other in their first year of combat school. They'd grown incredibly close over the years, and now could easily claim that each knew the other better than they knew themselves.

"Oi!" Gray called out, his deep brown eyes narrowed as he gave his friend an over-the-top glare. "I'm not a nerd! I'm a dork! Get it right, already, there's a difference y'know!" He yelled, pushing his black-framed glasses up his nose with a finger. Despite the supposed anger in his words, Gray couldn't keep the wide grin off his face.

Lapis just let out a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a snort.

"Come on you idiot, let's get going before your dumb ass makes us late." Lapis rolled his eyes again before marching off resolutely. Behind him, Gray's shoulders slumped.

"Aww, c'mon Lapis, don't be like that." He whined irritatingly, causing Lapis' eye to twitch. The slightly shorter boy completely ignored his best friend and kept walking without a single falter in his stride.

" _Du~ude!_ "

Nope. Totally ignored.

-.-

The two seventeen year olds had made their way to Beacon's auditorium after only a _minor_ amount of fuss from Gray. Standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder amongst the crowd of freshman, Gray now had his nose stuck in his scroll while Lapis scanned the mass of people with a bored look on his face.

It was only partially due to their close proximity and partially because they knew each other so well that Gray noticed, even with his head down and his eyes focused on his scroll, when Lapis' shoulders suddenly tensed and he stood up a little bit straighter. His interest piqued, Gray looked up from his mobile device for a moment to glance at his best friend.

To his complete and utter surprise, he found Lapis Lazuli, Mr. Constant-Cool-Careless-Facade, making googley-eyes at some girl halfway across the auditorium. Though, in his defence, where most men would've been drooling at the sight, Lapis was only glancing once every couple of seconds at the girl out of the corner of his eye. From his body language alone he clearly didn't want Gray to know that some girl in the room had caught his eye.

Gray's smirk was almost villainous. The poor fool.

An almost freakishly tall man with wire-frame glasses and messy grey hair was stepping up to the microphone on the stadium, and Gray knew it was the perfect time to strike.

"Hey Lapis," He spoke lowly, his voice almost a whisper, with a wicked smirk on his face. He was facing forwards, but all of his attention was focused on Lapis' face, which he could see through the edge of his peripherals, as he slyly slipped an arm over his friend's shoulders. "Why don't we look _away_ from the beatifically beautiful bodacious blonde bombshell's bombastic boobies and towards the headmaster instead? You wouldn't want to miss his speech, would yoooeeEOWCH!"

With absolutely no expression on his face, the only thing giving away his ire being a small twitch in his lower jaw, Lapis had mercilessly stomped on Gray's right foot, eliciting a harsh yelp from the still-grinning brunet.

"Fuck off."

Hopping up and down on one foot and holding onto the other with both hands, Gray let out a pained laugh.

"Totally worth it!"

Lapis let out a grunt and jabbed his fingers into Gray's side, eliciting another yelp from the boy.

Even with his throbbing toe and the pain in his side, it had absolutely been worth it just to get off that single string of words and to see the lone twitch in Lapis' jaw.

All of a sudden a hush fell upon the room of hyperactive freshmen as the tall man with grey hair began speaking in a slow, measured tone.

"I'll… keep this brief." Gray set his foot back on the ground as inconspicuously as he could and turned to look at Lapis with one of his eyebrows cocked. This was going to be interesting. "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge… to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." The man's deep baritone voice rumbled across the hall. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose… direction."

Nearly everyone in the massive room did a double-take. That was _harsh._

" _You assume_ knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far." The man paused, whether or not it was for dramatic effect, Gray couldn't tell. "It is up to you to take the first step."

With his piece spoken, the man, who everyone knew to be Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon, turned and slowly left the stage.

The blonde woman who'd been standing behind Ozpin throughout his short speech stepped up to the microphone and began speaking, but Gray wasn't listening anymore. He'd turned to Lapis with a grin on his face.

"I _like_ this guy." He grinned, nudging Lapis in the side to get a reaction out of him. Lapis turned to begin following the throng of students leaving the hall, but kept looking at Gray over his shoulder.

"Why, because he has _grey_ hair?" Despite the fact that Lapis' face was completely devoid of emotion, Gray could have recognized the twinkle in his blue eyes from a mile away.

"Boo!" He cheered, giving the boy's retreating back a double thumbs-down. Even then, Gray still had a grin on his face as he jogged to catch up to his friend. Slapping Lapis on the back, he said, "Dude, that's something I'd expect out of _me_. I never thought you'd stoop so _low_." He crowed, throwing an arm over Lapis' shoulders and causing the both of them to stumble.

The shit-eating grin on Gray's face grew ever wider, even as his nerdy plastic glasses were knocked askew.

" _I'm so proud of you!_ "

Lapis elbowed him in the stomach, causing Gray to double over and groan even as he laughed.

"Shut up."

Gray's laughter would follow the group of freshman all the way to the locker rooms.

-.-

After they'd arrived at the ballroom where they'd be sleeping, Gray and Lapis had claimed a spot with their sleeping bags nearby a window before heading out to take a much-needed shower.

Returning to the ballroom, the two boys were no longer dressed in their casual clothes, instead wearing their bedclothes. The two were dressed surprisingly similarly, both of them wearing loose tank tops and baggy pyjama pants.

Gray, interestingly enough, was wearing a speckled grey tank with a black breast pocket on the left side of his chest and a white trim. His pants were incredibly baggy to the point that they pooled around his ankles and beneath his feet as he walked. They were black and had the words "I 'heart' Kamata' printed all over them, both right-side-up and upside-down, with the words in white and the hearts in red.

Beside him, Lapis was wearing a plain baggy blue tank top and a pair of loose pyjama pants similar to Gray's. His pants had a base burnt orange colour to them, but were checkered with magenta and navy blue lines.

Lapis was, as usual, slumping as he walked with his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. Beside him, Gray was walking with a grin on his face, having just cracked a joke, with his fingers threaded together behind his head.

There were numerous boys all over the room attempting to show off their muscles by walking around shirtless, but quite a few of the girls in the room had their attention on the two boys instead. One such girl was a certain blonde bombshell named Yang Xiao Long.

Now, Yang wasn't the kind of girl to turn away from a free show, but despite the fact that numerous boys in the room were giving just that, she was getting an even better show from the two unknowing boys. They'd initially caught her eye because the taller boy, despite wearing a pair of nerdy-looking glasses, looked quite a bit older than the other freshman because of the distinct amount of stubble on his chin. Then her eyes began to wander.

The slightly shorter boy (though not by very much) had some surprisingly muscular arms in spite of his seemingly average frame, and even without any flexing on his part Yang could see the definition of the boy's upper arms. With that kind of muscle Yang was almost certain that the boy must use a fighting style similar to her own.

The boy beside him, the one that had initially caught her attention, was showing off an impressive pair of arms as well. What with the way he had them causally intertwined behind his head, his elbows in the air, the boy's biceps were on full display.

With a low growl and a nudge to her sister's side Yang purred out, "Mama likes what she sees!" She even managed to waggle her eyebrows at the pair of boys before Ruby pelted her in the face with a pillow.

"Yang!"

While peeling the pillow from her face Yang managed to catch onto the tail end of a loud chuckle as the pair of boys passed beside where she and Ruby were lying down.

"Hey Lapis, I think the beatifically beautiful bodacious blonde bombshell with the bombastic boobies from before was checking us out." He said with a cheeky grin on his face. Without skipping a beat Lapis slugged his best friend in the shoulder, scowling at Gray for bringing trying to use the same stupid joke twice in the same day.

Gray had been expecting Lapis' punch, already knowing how his friend was going to react, but he'd been mid-step when Lapis had launched his assault. With a slight cry of surprise, Gray stumbled, tripped over his own feet, and took a tumble.

With a light groan, Gray lifted his head from whatever had cushioned his fall and came face-to-face with a pair of violet eyes.

Everything went quiet for a moment before Yang cracked what could only be described as a cheesy grin.

"Hey Ruby," She called out in a teasing tone, eyes locked onto the wide brown orbs of the boy who'd managed to literally stumble his way into her cleavage, "Did a wise-guy with a wicked way with words just waddle his way into my womanly wonder-globes?"

…

Almost everyone in the vicinity paused at Yang's words.

Gray's grin could have lit up a lighthouse.

"Aw shit, there's another one of him." The look on Lapis' face was soul-crushing.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled with her cheeks burning a bright crimson.

"Big boobs, blonde hair _and_ a fellow lover-of-puns? What are you, my dream girl?" Gray's cheeky comment was immediately followed by Lapis' cry of "Dammit Gray!" alongside a face-palm of epic proportions. Gray moved to lift himself off of Yang, bracing his arms against the ground on either side of her, but stopped as she suddenly moved.

Yang's violet eyes were practically sparkling as she reached forwards and ran a finger up and down each of Gray's biceps. She licked her lips, winked, and said, "Well, big boy, with a body like this I'm sure it won't be too much trouble for you to find out."

While Ruby and Lapis were sharing a slack-jawed expression a shiver ran up and down Gray's spine as he blushed like a tomato. Lifting himself up from the ground, Gray stood silently as he shifted his pants, his tank top, and fiddled with his hair.

Yang smirked up at the flustered boy. She'd won this round decisively, but somehow she was sure this guy would be back for more.

"Well…" He finally said, traces of a blush still staining his cheeks, "It's been a pleasure meeting you…" He trailed off, looking down at the buxom blonde expectantly while avoiding her eyes completely.

"Yang Xiao Long." Yang provided with a foxy grin, "And this is my little sister Ruby Rose." Yang jabbed a thumb at the still slack-jawed Ruby. The poor girl was blushing even harder than Gray. Gray coughed, scratched the back of his head nervously, and gestured over at his friend who was both trying to look indifferent yet simultaneously glaring mutinously at his best friend.

"This is Lapis Lazuli , and I'm Gray Wolfgang. It's been a pleasure meeting you two… lovely ladies." He finished a little awkwardly. Yang winked at him again and purred, "Oh, believe me, the pleasure was _all_ mine."

While Gray's blush resurfaced, Ruby took matters into her own hands by once more yelling out "Yang!" and pelting her sister in the face with another pillow.

The two boys let out identical snorts of amusement as the sisters began to bicker with each other. Before things could escalate any further Gray started walking away, Lapis not far behind.

"I guess we'll see you around, or something," He called over his shoulder with a lackadaisical wave.

With their backs turned to the bickering sisters, neither boy noticed the white-haired heiress to the Schnee dust company stomp her way over to the whirling mass of limbs that were Yang and Ruby.

-.-

The morning after, Gray and Lapis found themselves standing side-by-side at the edge of a cliff overlooking a valley filled to bursting with emerald green trees.

After listening to Ozpin's rather enlightening speech, most students were gearing themselves up in preparation for what was to come. Gray was not one of those people. Now, while that might sound like he was being far too arrogant for the current situation, the truth was in fact quite the opposite.

Lapis was trying with all his might to either not laugh or begin to panic at Gray's dilemma. While Lapis had already devised a strategy to ensure a survivable landing in the forest below, Gray was still shaking like a leaf beside him.

Not only was the teen trying to get over his fear of heights while approaching the cliff, he had now just been told by the man that _was going to be his headmaster_ that they would be launched _off of_ said cliff without any predetermined way to survive such a devastating fall. The poor guy was shaking so hard that his knees were practically knocking together.

"L-Lapis," He ground out through chattering teeth, "W-What the heck am I supposed to _do?_ " He questioned, genuine fear in his voice.

"Brace yourself," Was the only thing a grim-faced Lapis could get out before the metal pad beneath Gray's feet launched him into the morning sky. With a tight smile, Lapis locked his legs and prepared himself for takeoff.

Despite the guy's fears and seeming immaturity, Gray could be a surprisingly resourceful guy. Lapis simply had to trust that his best friend wouldn't get himself killed trying to complete this infernal test.

That being said, Lapis' tight grin quickly morphed until it was nearly splitting his cheeks. There was no _way_ he wouldn't be enjoying this.

Heck, maybe he'd finally find something of a challenge during this blasted test!

-.-

 _ **AN:**_ _Alright people, this is the first instalment of Braving the Gauntlet. I came up with this little plot bunny while watching through Volume 3, and after managing to get my friends obsessed with the show, we had a little chat about weapons and semblances and such. So, being the writer our little group, I decided to throw something together to not only satisfy our inner heroic desires, but also to fix some of the moments from the latest volume that have utterly destroyed me and ruined my entire life. Because there's no way the last couple of episodes haven't traumatized me. Seriously. I can't deal with this shit any more, where's Volume 4 already?_

 _That being said…_

 _Peace!_

 _The Chthonic Professor_


	2. Trails of an Unkind Nature

_**Braving the Gauntlet**_

 _ **The Chthonic Professor**_

-.-

 _ **Chapter Two - Trials of an Unkind Nature**_

-.-

Gray's (slightly unmanly) yells echoed over the skies of the Emerald Forest as the seventeen year old tumbled through the air like as ungracefully as a sack of potatoes.

Y'know. Because sacks of potatoes fall from the sky all the time.

Gray stared at the rapidly approaching forest floor with wide eyes as he tried to come up with a plan so that he wouldn't become a smear of paste upon entry into the woods.

" _AWWW SHIT!_ " He yelled before he shifted his body slightly, aiming for one of the larger trees in the forest. With a mighty yell, Gray reached behind his back and unclipped his weapon, _Wandering Sage_ , and gave a mighty horizontal swing. There was a light jingling sound as the four rings on the end of his impressive shakujo clinked together.

Following Gray's desperate swing of _Wandering Sage_ one of the four rings glowed green and a thin blade made entirely of wind erupted from the tip of his staff, horizontally bisecting the tree he'd been aiming for.

With another loud bellow, Gray pumped a generous amount of golden Aura into his legs and slammed feet-first into the now toppling top-half of the massive tree.

His timing had been perfect.

He'd manage to bisect the tree in such a way that it began toppling away from him. The tree had fallen far enough that Gray, instead of smashing a crater into the side of the tree and breaking his legs, landed on an angle that allowed his momentum to carry him down the side of the falling monolith.

" _Tim-berrrr!_ " He cried out, slightly deliriously, as he literally surfed the trunk of the tree to safety. With a mighty leap Gray cleared the last bit of distance between the forest floor and the massive log, landing with a harsh roll that left him sprawled out like a starfish on the grass.

With the earth still shaking under the titanic crash provided by the tree, Gray allowed himself a moment to catch his breath and compose himself. Then and there, he decided to retract a statement he'd made yesterday.

"I don't really think I like Ozpin anymore." He let out breathlessly with a light chuckle to himself. If only Lapis could see him now.

…

Actually, maybe that was a good idea. Finding Lapis, that is. According to Ozpin, the first person they made eye-contact with in the forest would be their partner for the next four years. He had to find wherever Lapis had landed, and quickly.

After all, Gray didn't think anyone else in the world could put up with his special brand of madness. With a bit of a groan Gray pushed himself up to his feet and started attempting to work a kink out of his back. As he did so, he glanced around the forest, trying to see if anyone had seen his stunt and would try and approach to team up with him.

From somewhere off in the distance Gray heard a loud _whoop_ echo through the forest, and grinned. There was no way that wasn't Lapis. The guy may have the emotional range of a teaspoon, but he was an even bigger adrenaline junkie than Gray. Cracking his knuckles, and then his neck, he said, "Alright, let's get this party started!"

-.-

While normally Gray would have enjoyed the thought of a hike through the forest, he wasn't exactly having a fun time. This was entirely due to the fact that the forest he was currently traipsing through was overpopulated with the creatures of Grimm. He'd been expecting it. He wasn't a stranger to Grimm in the slightest.

That didn't make them any less annoying.

Gray sighed as a (rather small, in all honesty) Beowolf leapt at him from behind. He pivoted, whirling his staff about him theatrically, and struck the creature across the face. With it's momentum altered, the vaguely humanoid wolf was sent flying past Gray.

Flowing with the momentum behind his swing, Gray slammed the butt of _Wandering Sage_ into the ground. For a brief moment one of the rings at the top of the shakujo glowed a glinting yellow-brown colour. Then, the earth beneath the long staff glowed the same colour. In the low light produced by the staff, Gray's grin was both predatory and menacing.

" _Art of the Elementalist: Earthen Spear!"_

Before the words had even left Gray's mouth, the dirt beneath the flying Beowolf rippled and shifted. With a slight rumble and a disgusting squelching sound, the Grimm was impaled upon a spear - it had an arrow-shaped head and everything - of earth and stone nearly as thick as Gray's torso. Then the yellow-brown light in the small clearing died down, the spear retracted into the earth. The Grimm thudded to the ground, body already fading into a black mist.

Gray rolled his shoulders and moved to place _Wandering Sage_ where it normally rested across his back. He was proud of his work. It took a pretty high level of control of one's aura to pull off such a complicated move, even when using a concentrated amount of dust to help out.

Just as Gray was beginning to relax, his shoulders slumping slightly, the sound of a stick cracking immediately set him on edge again.

Then a chuckle filled the clearing.

"Only you could name an attack and make it sound _so damn nerdy_."

Gray whirled around and came face-to-face with Lapis. The guy was standing at the edge of the clearing leaning against a tree. His arms were crossed (in a manner that looked rather uncomfortable, because he was wearing a pair of massive mechanical hands) and smirking and Gray.

Gray's heartbeat, which had jumped a couple of beats at the sudden sound, slowly began to calm. "Oh, Lapis it's you." He stated dully. Lapis raised an eyebrow at Gray.

"Yeah it's me. Who were you expecting, the Kool Aid man?"

Gray rolled his eyes, sighed, and then laughed a little. Then he shook his head. "Only you, Lapis."

It was Lapis' turn to roll his eyes. He stalked forwards, unfurling his oversized mechanical hands, and passed by Gray.

"C'mon, moron. While you were busy screaming like a little girl, I took the time to pay attention to where the ruins with the relics are. We need to head this way." He said. Without looking back at Gray, Lapis walked out of the clearing.

For a moment, everything was silent.

"… I screamed like an adolescent girl, at the _least_." Gray mumbled to himself, before stalking off after his best friend.

They couldn't see it, but as they left the clearing, they had identical small smiles on their faces.

-.-

"Well… that was easy." Gray brushed his thick white cloak to the side, making it flutter slightly in the light breeze, as they emerged from a copse of trees into a clearing. Just a couple of dozen yards away from them was a circular ancient ruin, set up so that a ring of pedestals were proudly displaying different chess pieces. He strutted up to the display with his shoulders square and his head held high.

Lapis, of course, slouched along behind him. He'd deactivated his mech-hands and shoved his hands into the front pocket of his sleeveless blue hoodie. He had the hood up shrouding the upper portion of his face, but his mouth was set in a tight line and he was clearly glaring darkly at his feet.

Stopping directly in front of the relics, with Lapis a few steps behind him, Gray looked at his best friend over his shoulder with a cheeky grin on his face.

"So, Lapis? What was that about 'Taking the time to find out where the relics are'? Or how about 'I know _exactly_ where I'm going and we're _totally_ not lost, Gray!' _Hmmm~?_ "

Lapis shot Gray a venomous look from the shadows of his hood.

"Shut _up_ , Gray. It's not my fault your _stupid face_ screwed up my sense of direction." He turned away with a huff, somehow shoving his hands even deeper into the pocket of his hoodie.

Gray pouted at his sulking friend.

"Aw, that's just rude." Gray stuck his left hand into the pocket of his cloak and brushed his other hand through his hair. He'd need to get it cut soon, his bangs were falling in front of his eyes.

Lapis told him he looked like a drowned rat whenever he got his hair wet.

Gray thought he looked cool anyway, no matter what Lapis thought about his hair.

Standing there, Gray took in the relics and the ruins they stood in. He took a quick glance around, spying the intermittently black and golden chess pieces, and then looked to the stone floor of the ancient ruin.

It was made of square stones placed close together in a perfectly symmetrical pattern, up to a certain point, where the stones were then cut differently to fit agains the outer ring of square stone that made the ruin perfectly circular.

Gray paused his absentminded brushing of his hair, a habit he had been slowly picking up, and one that Lapis told him - frequently - would cause all of his hair to fall out.

"You know, if you keep running your fingers through your hair like that, you'll yank it all out before you turn twenty."

Yup. Right on time.

Ignoring his friend's quip, Gray allowed a sly smile to slowly work it's way onto his face. Turning just the slightest bit so that Lapis could make out his expression, Gray spoke slowly.

"Hey Lapis… you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Lapis shifted from one foot to the other, and then followed his best friend's brown-eyed gaze to the two king pieces, black and gold, sitting in the centre of the ring of relics. Lapis eyed the two pieces with intense scrutiny for a moment, didn't see what Gray was apparently seeing, and then glanced around at the rest of the pieces.

"That… we're the first ones here?" He hedged a guess, seeing as every piece was still in place.

Gray just chuckled, one of those cheesy, over-the-top evil villain chuckles that was too forced to be taken seriously.

"Yes, my dear friend. We are first. Which means…?"

Lapis was slowly catching on.

"Which means… every single piece on a chess board is here." He stood there for a moment, only a couple of steps behind Gray, and then he smiled. "Rematch?"

"Rematch." Gray's evil villain chuckle was back. "Lapis my friend, my rival, our score of 28 to 27 in your favour is a score that will not last for much longer. Right here, right now, I will regain my honour by defeating you in a battle for the ages, the chess match to end all chess matches!" Gray whirled around and with a flick of his arm, sent his cloak flapping wildly about his legs. "I challenge you, Lapis Lazuli, to a duel!"

For a moment, all was silent in the clearing, the only noise being the sounds of gunfire from somewhere in the distance.

"You've been practicing that." It wasn't a question. Gray's shoulders slumped slightly.

"It took me _hours_ to perfect that one. You could at _least_ be a _little_ impressed." Gray whined. Lapis rolled his eyes at his friend, but there was a small smile on his face nonetheless. He trudged forwards, nudging Gray with his shoulder as he passed him.

"C'mon, moron. Help me set up."

-.-

They'd been playing for two minutes in absolute silence before Gray finally spoke.

"So…" It was Gray's turn to move, but he always took far longer than Lapis to make a move anyway. If any conversation happened it happened on Gray's turn, that was just the way it had always been. "… I had a thought."

He moved his Rook, simultaneously blocking Lapis' Queen from eating his own, previously unprotected, Queen and pinning his Bishop near the corner of the board.

"Hm." Lapis' eyes flickered across the makeshift board twice (Gray had played his best friend so often he could pick out exactly which piece he was looking at by the minute degree of movement made by Lapis' sky blue eyes) before he moved his Knight, threatening Gray's Rook. They were using the stone floor of the ruin as their board for the pieces, as there just so happened to be a perfect square of sixty four stones in the centre of the circular ruin.

Seeing that Lapis' turn was over and that it was all right for him to speak again, Gray started his own turn.

"Well, I was wondering, what do we do when the other teams begin showing up? I mean, we were all supposed to pick out a relic and then head back towards the cliffs, right? So what to we do when a pair needs to pick up a relic?"

Gray moved his Bishop, very carefully looking at the board and making sure it didn't put him in any tight spots, and defended his Rook from the threat of his opponent's Knight.

"Hmmmm…" This time Lapis' eyes lingered on the board for a little while longer. He kept glancing back at his Rook, which was pinned behind his own lines due to a combination of Gray's Knight and the Rook which was now defending his Queen.

Then he moved his Pawn forward, giving his pinned Rook an escape route and simultaneously threatening Gray's second Knight.

As Gray started his turn, Lapis finally spoke.

"I guess…" he said slowly, "We'll just have to let them take their relics."

Gray glanced up from the makeshift board to stare at Lapis. The teen just raised his light brown eyebrows at Gray's expression.

"Well," Gray finally said, "I guess it _will_ make the game a little more challenging…" He hummed, tapped his fingers across his right knee, and stroked the stubble on his chin.

"How about… we don't say a word when a team shows up? We're not allowed to convince them to take a certain piece, we just tell them to take one and stay quiet after that?"

Lapis grinned, something that was a rare sighting for most, but a common one for Gray.

"Heck yeah, let's do this."

-.-

"Well… this is interesting."

They'd kind of known it would eventually come to this, but it was still a bit of an awkward situation nonetheless. Not every piece had been taken, each player had a couple of pawns they'd eaten throughout the game now sitting on the sidelines… but that was it.

Their game had been put on hold for a brief period of time when a group of eight people had come through and they'd had to fend off a Deathstalker and a Giant Nevermore, but that hadn't lasted forever.

Lapis had been winning by a landslide, sitting comfy with both of his Rooks _and_ his Knights while Gray had been fending him off with only his King and a Pawn. After everything had settled down and they'd returned to their game, it had been Lapis' turn, and he'd finally taken Gray's last pawn.

Then the eight recruits, six girls and two dudes, had come over and picked their pieces.

Leaving the two of them with their only their Kings staring each other down.

Gray had a grin on his face.

Lapis was pouting, though he'd never admit it.

"Well!" Gray exclaimed, nice and chipper as he stretched his arms high above his head, releasing a contented sigh. "Looks like this one's a tie, buddy ol' pal. Better luck next time?" Lapis scowled heavily at his friend and let out a sound that was more a growl than anything else.

"Gray, you know _damn_ well that I had that game in my pocket!" Lapis was raising his voice, something he rarely did. It only made Gray's smile get that _little_ bit wider. The two of them were incredibly competitive when it came to anything and everything; if there could be a winner, there _would_ be a winner.

Gray knew he was really easy to rile up; Lapis had always been better than him at - basically - everything. He was better at sports, he was better in school, he was smarter and faster on his feet, he could keep a cooler head in a tricky situation and he was even better at _tinkering_ than Gray was. Gray had always had a short tempter - something he'd inherited from his mother - and it came to it's head quickest when Lapis was lording some victory or other over his head.

However, it was also _because_ Lapis was so used to winning against Gray that, when things didn't go his way, he tended to get very … upset, to put it mildly. It only made it worse when he _knew, absolutely knew_ without a doubt that he had Gray beat, and then things turned against him and the outcome became something unexpected.

Lapis looked like he wanted nothing more than to sock Gray in the face, but Gray knew he wouldn't. The two would wrestle every so often, if one got mad enough at the other during a physical contest and the testosterone was running high, but they'd never come to actual blows. Gray also knew, however, that he would more than likely be receiving the silent treatment for the next couple of days.

Before Lapis could actually start verbally tearing into Gray (more for the stupid self-satisfied smirk on his face than anything else), a rustling from the edge of the nearby trees caught their attention. Immediately the two of them froze.

A single glance between them and the atmosphere had changed.

Then, before either of them could make a move, something came tumbling out of the foliage.

"Hey! I found it!" A bright voice called out across the clearing, and the two tense boys immediately found themselves relaxing.

They were staring at a rather lanky tall blond boy as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. He was grinning happily from ear-to-ear as he waved over at the two of them, having clearly realized that he'd found the ruins and, thus, the relics. Behind him, a guy with mocha coloured skin and thick curly black hair tied back up above his head stepped out into the clearing. He had his eyelids drooped lazily, as if this entire test had been nothing but a bore to him.

As the two of them slowly approached the still-seated Gray and Lapis, Gray slowly realized that there was some sort of sound coming from the lazy-looking guy's back. It took him a moment to realize that the sound was actually music.

He blinked.

"Hey, is that _Courtesy Call_ by _Thousand Foot Krutch_?" Gray muttered to himself. The guy, who had some sort of boombox strapped to his back that was playing music at a decent volume, suddenly stopped walking and perked up.

Huh. Either the guy had some sort of super-hearing, or Gray had muttered far louder than he thought. When they'd finally come close enough to be able to hold a conversation, Gray realized the guy had a happy smirk on his face, and his eyes had lit up a little.

"So," He began, "You like _Thousand Foot Krutch_?" Gray was a little surprised at how smooth the guy's voice was. He'd half-expected it to be deep and gravelly, for some reason.

"Yeah. I think their best song is _Be Somebody_ , but _Courtesy Call_ is a close second."

The guy's smirk turned into a full-blown grin. "You know," He said, "I think this is the beginning of a _bea~utiful_ friendship." He extended his hand, and Gray took it. Then they both flipped their hands up and grasped each other around the back of the thumb, dropped their hands and slid them back until their fingers locked, and then moved into an up-down fist-bump.

"The name's Nacarat, but my friends call me Rat for short."

Then the blond, who was slightly taller than 'Rat', popped his head over the guy's shoulder.

"Hi! I'm Topaz, it's nice to meet you!"

Gray grinned at Topaz's high-energy attitude. He could already _hear_ Lapis grumbling about annoying blonds in the back of his mind.

"I'm Gray, and the bag of salt over there is Lapis."

He got a solid punch to the side of his arm for that one, but it was totally worth it to hear the twin guffaws from Topaz and Rat.

"Anyway," Gray continued, completely unfazed, "You guys are the last ones to show up. The only pieces left are the two Kings and a couple of pawns, but pawns are lame, so I guess we'll take one King and you guys take the other?" He looked back at Lapis for confirmation, who just shrugged. It seemed reasonable enough.

"Ooh, I want the gold one!" Topaz immediately rushed behind Gray and picked up the golden king. Gray and Lapis glanced at each other, this time the both of them shrugging. Gray bent down, picked up the black King, and slipped it into one of the many pockets that lined his - absolutely awesome and cool-looking, no matter what Lapis said about it - white cloak.

For a moment, the four of them stood there awkwardly staring at each other with _Courtesy Call_ playing in the background.

"Well…" Gray finally broke the silence by clapping his hands, "… I guess we better make our way to the cliffs?"

-.-

When the group of four young guys finally reached the cliffs, they were faced with something they hadn't really been expecting. Sure, Gray and Lapis had seen the group of eight that had passed through earlier on trying to deal with a Giant Nevermore and a Deathstalker, but they'd assumed the group had managed to outrun them. Instead, it seemed as if the group of eight had been cornered on some sort of ancient castle ruins by the two - rather large - Grimm.

There was a group of them standing at the edge of a canyon with the ruins behind them. From where he was standing atop a hill, Gray could see that there was a collapsed stone bridge behind them. This group was backed up against the edge of the canyon, and they were trying to deal with a nasty-looking Deathstalker.

The other half of the group, which Gray vaguely noted as being all girls, seemed to be stuck on the actual ruins themselves trying to deal with the Giant Nevermore that had been harassing them before.

Gray glanced back at the three guys behind him. He already knew what Lapis was capable of, but the two others were a complete unknown. Looking over them quickly, Gray immediately noticed the quiver of arrows sticking out over Topaz's shoulder and the high-tech bow he was now holding in his right hand.

"You any good with that bow?" Gray questioned the tallest of the four of them. The guy looked a little insulted.

"Yeah, of course." He shifted his shoulder, making the arrows in his high-tech quiver rattle slightly. "My Semblance is _Telescopic Eyesight_ , so I'm more than a good shot with my bow."

Gray nodded at the information and then turned to look at Rat. The guy turned slightly and jabbed his thumb at the boombox on his back.

"This thing's a heavy-duty Battle-hammer which shifts into a tommy-gun infused with dust rounds."

Gray closed his eyes for a moment as he steepled his fingers together before him. Then his eyes shot open.

"All right, I want you and Lapis to head over to help those four deal with that Deathstalker, that thing looks _real_ nasty." He jolted his chin in the direction of the massive moss-covered scorpion. "Topaz, you and I will be helping the four ladies deal with that monster of a Nevermore. You'll be able to hit that thing from the edge of the canyon right?"

Again, Topaz looked a little affronted. "Definitely."

"Then let's get moving, people."

Immediately the four of them took off down the hill. Lapis shot off like a rocket, moving faster than any of the others due to his superior athleticism. As he ran he pumped both of his arms once. Instantly his weapons whirred to life. Gray watched it happen from the corner of his eyes with a smirk on his face.

What had previously been nothing more than pair of metallic gloves with metal fingertips and a set of knuckle-dusters, each knuckle with a metal wire connecting to a metal band around each wrist, was rapidly transforming into one of the deadliest weapons ever crafted.

 _Blue and Harley_ were Lapis' pride and joy, a pair of Grimm-killing machines that he'd both designed and put together entirely on his own. They were massive mechanical hands, each one being nearly the size of his own torso. (1). In the centre of the palm of each hand was a glowing blue circle, which was filled with an experimental form of dust called Blaze Dust; a combination of Wind and Burn dust. However, the hands weren't the only part of the weapon. As it came into shape around Lapis' extended hands, metal began unfolding and climbing up his arms until it reached his shoulders, covering both of his arms completely in metal.

Thought it looked like simple metallic covering, almost like armour, Gray knew it was far more than that. The inside was filled with a huge number of high-pressure pistons that Lapis could control with the wires that were connected to his metal-capped fingers. It was an incredibly complex system, but being the one who designed it, Lapis knew how to use it best. When used properly, in conjunction with the pistons, Lapis' already impressive punching power could be amplified well over a dozen times.

Coming up behind Lapis, Nacarat had slung his boombox off of his shoulder and jammed his finger against one of the many buttons decorating it. As it slowly began to unfold and come together as a massive five-foot Battle-hammer with a head nearly a foot thick and wide, the song _Strength of a Thousand Men_ by _Two Steps From Hell_ started to blast across the field. It only took moments before all four of the teens rushing down the hill were pounding their feet in time with the beat of the song.

As Gray ran, his thick white cloak was flapping out behind him like some great cape. He'd removed his hands from the sleeves, the only thing keeping the cloak tied to his shoulders being the clasp at his neck. Beneath he cloak he was wearing a black bodysuit, a pair of loose black combat pants that were tied down at his calves by white medical tape, and green combat boots that were a shade darker than the colour of the green stripe which ran around the edges of his white cloak. Taking his jingling shakujo in his hands, he glanced sideways at Topaz, who was keeping pace with him as they raced towards the crumbling ruins.

"Hey Topaz, will you be able to pin it in place for a couple of seconds with your arrows?" Topaz's deep blue eyes met Gray's dark brown.

"Yeah. Why?"

Gray just grinned at him.

"I've got a plan."

Topaz gave him a squinty stare for just a moment before he seemed to shrug and give in. "Alright, just tell me when."

Instead of giving Topaz a verbal reply, Gray just nodded. He turned his gaze to the Nevermore, which was sitting atop one of the few remaining turrets of the crumbling ancient stone castle and screeching bloody murder at it's four opponents.

Little did it know, it would soon be faced with two more pesky little humans, and these two were not in the mood to play games. The massive creature took off, slowly making a wide circle around the crumbling ruins which contained it's prey. As it came around for a second pass, the girls below firing all manner of dust rounds at it, Gray saw his opening.

"Now Topaz, while it's closest to the edge of the canyon!"

Immediately Topaz skidded to a stop and pulled out his bow, dropping down on one knee. Gray continued rushing past him towards the edge of the canyon, only to nearly stumble and lose his footing.

Two bolts of blue lightning had shot by the right side of his head. They streaked through the air before passing directly in front of the massive Nevermore. The crackling streaks of lightning, which Gray realized were arrows infused with lightning dust, had startled the Nevermore. The huge Grimm had stopped in it's tracks to avoid the two deadly missiles, batting it's wings furiously to halt it's forward momentum.

Gray grinned wickedly. Topaz had given him all the opening he needed.

-.-

While Gray was making his plan and Topaz was getting his arrows ready to deal with the flying Grimm, Lapis and Nacarat were coming upon their own prey. Being closer to the booming song coming from Nacarat's weapon, the two of them could practically feel the thrum of the song pumping through their veins. As the pace of the music picked up, Lapis realized his feet had begun to flicker with a light blue sheen. He was practically flying across the ground, his legs pumping at an incredible pace as his aura started to flicker around him in a blue miasma.

There was a grin on his face so nasty he would have given Gray's a run for it's money. As he tore across the plain, his eyes locked on his prey, Lapis could actually feel his lust for battle skyrocketing. This feeling … it was incredible, indescribable.

He'd probably just found his favourite person in the entire world.

In only a couple of moments, Nacarat's unique weapon had allowed Lapis to do something he'd been trying to reach for _years_ ; the ability to activate his semblance before a fight. Then, all other stray thoughts fled from his mind completely as his semblance fully activated.

Lapis Lazuli had entered _The Zone_. His prey? The deathstalker.

Lapis' sights were locked on to the massive scorpion. With a grunt and a mighty heave, Lapis leapt high into the air. His aura flickered, and then suddenly became focused on his eyes. As he flew through the air, his eyes began to glow with an intense blue light, so bright it was leaving a pair of twin streaks following wherever he looked. (2).

He reached the apex of his leap, cocked his fist back, and grinned.

-.-

While the Nevermore was distracted by Topaz' volley of lightning arrows, Gray had continued sprinting until he'd nearly reached the edge of the canyon. He swung his shakujo out to the side with his right hand as a yellow-brown glow began to envelop the end of the staff. Just as he reached the very edge of the cliffs, and was staring up into the murderous red eyes of the momentarily pinned Nevermore, he swung his staff.

It whistled through the air, nearly coming into contact with the ground as he swung it in a low arc, moving from behind him to in front of him. Following the momentum of the staff, a massive pillar of earth erupted beneath Gray's feet at a forty-five degree angle. Gray braced himself as he pulled up the earth beneath his feet. With a grunt of effort, he simultaneously stopped the rising earth pillar and pushed off against it with all of his might.

"WOOHOO~" With a wild whoop of excitement, Gray found himself hurtling towards the airborne Nevermore with speed. As he tore through the air towards the massive Grimm he began twirling his shakujo in his hands. Blue light slowly built up around the edge of _Wandering Sage_ until it looked like a single solid blue ring of energy was crackling violently around Gray's hands. His white cloak flapped about behind him, looking almost like a pair of angel's wings. With a mighty roar of effort, Gray brought the momentum of his whirling staff and his hurtling body down on top of the Nevermore's skull.

For a moment, the sky seemed to be split in two by a massive bolt of lightning.

 _CRA-KAM_ , the boom of thunder from the lightning strike was so loud, and so powerful, it knocked Topaz on his back and sent everyone else in the area stumbling for a moment. By the time everyone had regained their bearings and focused their attention on the Nevermore, Gray could be seen clinging to the Grimm's back feathers for dear life as the creature was sent spiralling towards the misty recesses of the canyon below. Spying one of the many crumbling bridges that spanned the canyon as he tumbled through the air, Gray braced himself and leapt off the falling Nevermore. He focused all of his aura into surrounding his body as he slammed into the stone bridge at high velocity. With a grunt of effort, his aura managed to hold, and he was sent bouncing along the span of the bridge head-over-heels.

He finally came to a stop, and his rather unusual golden aura flickered and died as he stopped forcefully channeling his energy. He simply lay there for a moment, more than a little dazed as he stared up into the sky. When his vision finally stopped spinning and he could actually see again, he realized that someone had been standing over him.

Violet eyes stared down into brown.

"That…" Yang began…

-.-

"… was the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Nora pumped her arm in excitement as she waved her hammer about with her other hand. Lapis had cleared the Deathstalker's flailing stinger from behind with a jump and landed an absolutely devastating punch to the top of it's armour-plated head. Then he'd used his massive metallic hand-gauntlets to flip himself into a handstand and launch himself off the Deathstalker.

Lapis landed with his back to them, but the four members of the not-yet-formed Team JNPR could tell by his body language alone that he was about to jump back into battle. Before he could, Jaune leaned forward and took initiative.

"Pyrrha, aim for the stinger!" He shouted over the sound of epic violins coming from Nacarat's Boombox-Hammer, pointing out the joint between the Deathstalker's stinger and the rest of it's tail. Ren had made the joint weaker already by targeting the spot with his weapons. Pyrrha braced herself and spun in a tight circle, giving her enough momentum to toss her shield like a weighted discus at the disoriented Deathstalker. As the heavy metal shield whipped through the air past his ear, Lapis turned his head slightly and glanced back at the four teens behind him.

If it hadn't been for the intensity of the situation and the adrenaline running through their veins, all four of them were sure they would have flinched backwards at the visible sparks erupting from Lapis' eyes. As Pyrrha's shield tore through the Deathstalker's tail, Lapis threw out his arms behind him. Blue jets of flame erupted from the centre of his mechanical palms, and he blasted forwards towards the Deathstalker.

Before he could reach it, Nacarat seemed to materialize above the thrashing scorpion, his massive battle-hammer positioned over his shoulder. He swung, striking the falling stinger in mid-air and slamming it down into the Deathstalker's thick armour. He moved so fast that there was an actual _boom_ , accompanied by a harsh displacement of air. Then he landed on top of the Deathstalker, knees bent, and braced himself as he stuck his battle-hammer out beside him.

His eyes met Lapis'. Then he twitched his shoulders and looked up. Lapis grinned.

Cutting the power from his gauntlets, Lapis flipped forwards mid-air until his back was parallel with the ground. His feet slammed into the broad side of Nacarat's hammer. _Strength of a Thousand Men_ pounded in his ears, the thrum of the violin making his blood sing. Nacarat grunted and skidded backwards as he tried to hold back Lapis' impressive momentum. His arms were shaking visibly with the effort.

Then, with a loud roar and a _boom_ that shook the earth, Nacarat swung.

Lapis was airborne.

He closed his eyes, revelling in his rapid ascent, and only when he reached the apex of his impromptu flight did he open them. Staring down at the small dots below him, seeing the earth stretch out beneath him endlessly, the sun silhouetting him from behind … he didn't think anything in the world could make him grin any wider.

His eyes glowed and sparked with power, and he thrust his arms out behind him. With a barking laugh, Lapis activated the propulsion feature installed in his gauntlets. His aura began to take shape around him, sparking and flailing about as he descended rapidly. He rocketed down in a controlled spiral, his eyes locked on the Deathstalker so far below. As he pumped more and more of his aura into the reckless manoeuvre, it began to trail behind him in a flickering tail of power and energy.

He held his arms behind him, falling faster and faster, until he could actually see the gleaming golden stinger lodged in the Deathstalker's back. Then he cut the power to his gauntlets.

Bracing his massive mechanical left hand out in front of him, and cocking back his right, Lapis slammed into the Deathstalker with a roar. To the others, he looked like nothing more than a blue streak of light descending from the heavens.

The impact was so powerful it kicked up a cloud of dust that billowed up into a mushroom cloud. The earth around the impact zone heaved and then slammed down into a perfectly round crater. Then it heaved again, and a second, larger crater erupted around the first. A shockwave of displaced air rippled away from the impact zone, sending Nacarat careening through the air, and the members of the not-yet-formed Team Juniper tumbling to the ground.

-.-

On the other end of the clearing, Gray had just finished standing with the help of Yang in time to witness the mushroom cloud of dust begin to bloom. He sighed as he saw it, his shoulders sagging. He turned his head slightly, glancing at Yang who was standing just behind his right shoulder.

"Brace yourself."

That was all he managed to get out before they were hit with a shockwave of air and dust. Gray grabbed the inside of his cloak with one hand and lifted his arm to shield his face, protecting both himself and Yang from the irritating dust with his - somehow - still immaculate white cloak. Behind him, Yang flinched and stumbled. She grabbed onto his shoulders to prevent herself from falling.

"What the heck was _that_!?" She yelled. Gray could barely hear her over the intensity of the winds.

The blast of air quickly died down into nothing more than a breeze, so Gray lowered his arm and stood up straight, gazing out over the ruins towards the origin of the blast.

The dying winds caused his cloak, which was still only fastened around his neck, with his arms out of his sleeves, to billow about him like a cape. Standing there on the crumbling bridge of an ancient ruin, wind causing his hair and cloak alike to billow about him wildly, and with his Shakujo planted firmly against the stone beside him; Gray had no doubt that he must look like one of the Mages of Old, like something straight out of a storybook.

"Oh _hell_ yes, this is exactly why I wear a cloak."

The winds died down completely, his cloak coming to rest softly against the backs of his legs and his hair settling down around his head. For just a moment, the entire area was dead silent.

"Really, after that," She threw her arm out over the open canyon, indicating Gray's previous flying leap and lightning-enhanced blow to the Giant Nevermore, "and _that,_ " She threw her other arm out towards the origin of the still-settling dust cloud over on the opposite end of the canyon, " _that's_ all you have to say?"

Gray looked back at Yang with an eyebrow cocked. Then he shrugged his shoulders. "What? It's not like you wear your outfit because you think it's _comfortable_ , it's because you look _damn good_ while fighting in it. Am I right, or am I right?"

"Alright, fair point." Yang conceded, holding her hands up placatingly.

There was a moment of pause as the two fighters stood there, sizing each other up.

"Was that a compliment?" Yang suddenly asked, smirking confidently at Gray. Gray shrugged his shoulders again, a cheeky half-smile on his face.

"What can I say, I'm just awesome like that."

Then a piercing cry echoed out all over the forest, and the Nevermore came rocketing out of the mist blanketing the bottom of the canyon.

-.-

Vi's gauntlets from League of Legends, just with a couple of modifications.

Look up _The Zone_ from the anime Kuroko's Basketball, or Kuroko no Basuke, on youtube.

 _ **AN:**_ _So… pretty long chapter. Left it on a bit of a cliffhanger, but it's nothing serious. Just thought it would be a good place to pick up from for the next one. We'll get to see more of Nacarat and Topaz, probably. I didn't exactly plan out every step of the story… maybe I should do that. I know this story doesn't exactly have very many views, or follows, or favourites, but I'm hoping it'll start to grow as I keep writing._

 _Also, hope you liked the action! I had a blast writing it. Favourite scene is_ _ **definitely**_ _when Nacarat sends Lapis flying, even though Gray is supposed to be 'my' character._

 _Oh, and if anyone wanted to know, each and every OC introduced in the story is based on one of my close friends, and they each created their own semblance and weapons. I'm just meshing those ideas with their actual personalities and shoving them into the RWBY storyline, then seeing how much changes. That's pretty much what this is._

 _That's it for now, peace out people!_

 _The Chthonic Professor_


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